Should Authors Agree With Everything They Write?

It is a well known fact that authors are mysterious creatures of the darkness.

Trying to understand them is a bit like trying to understand a leviathan that occasionally looks like a human, survives on evil cake from the dark side, uses its flippers for typing — AND YET STILL TERRORISES THE SEVEN SEAS AT NIGHT. This is a true summary. Ask any leviathan / author you know.

But seriously now, it is very hard to understand authors for two reasons being: (1) if you’re not one, and (2) we’re actually not all a hive mind so all we have different thoughts / opinions / number of flippers instead of hands.

Keep Point #2 in mind. ALWAYS. Good job.

But I do have ONE THING I can concretely tell you that is 5000% actuality that will probably blow your socks off:

AUTHORS DO NOT AGREE WITH EVERYTHING THEY WRITE.

I’ve seen a bit of an uprising in reviews, on Goodreads, and especially on twitter, of people being furious at certain aspects of books with the thoughts of “BUT HOW COULD THIS AUTHOR ENDORSE THINGS LIKE THIS!!!” and “IF THE AUTHORS BELIEVES IN THIS EVIL I WILL NEVER SUPPORT THEM!!” and “THIS IS A DISGUSTING TOPIC TO WRITE ABOUT!!!” and even, the worst yet: “THIS AUTHOR IS NOT A LEVIATHAN AND THEIR LIFE IS A LIE!!!”

Now all of these are fair statements(except the last, don’t judge, you rude little tortoise) because the universe does not require us to love everything we read or agree with it. THANK GOODNESS WE ARE ALL INDIVIDUALS WITH OUR OWN BRAINS. If you don’t like a topic a book is about, you don’t have to. The end! Move on! Eat an ice cream sandwich! Rule a planet! Hug your cacti! It’s totally cool.

But sometimes a small reality check and a little pondering on fairness is in order. Just a little bit of thinking. Don’t hurt yourself now. And because this post is disgustingly without lists, we obviously need to list reasons WHY authors will write about things they do not personally disagree with:

Because the world is not perfect.

And actually WE BOOKWORMS would all get notoriously annoyed if books were perfect or characters were flawless.

Also we’d be downright furious if books were all super black and white about good vs evil.

Because guess what? Good people do horrid things and horrid people do good things. It’s quite frustrating. Who on earth do you decide to take out to a polite teaparty? You can never tell.

In real life (which is what books do reflect to a certain extent; even ones made up of unicorns and zombies) your favourite cousin will say something sexist and your best friend will be prejudice and your internet friend will emphatically hate your favourite book which obviously means they were dropped on their head as a baby. BUT THIS IS JUST THE UNFORTUNATE REALITY.

It’s actually very interesting to explore things you disagree with. It gives you a different perspective to write about.

When writing advice says“your character needs flaws” these flaws aren’t just “make them sneeze 7 times in a row while they’re hiding from badies”. These flaws are REAL things that are REALLY annoying and can QUITE CREDIBLY be problematic.

Authors write about things that disturb them to bring attention to those things. A society critique, perhaps. A frustration they’ve faced. Something they want to warn people about.

This of course does not excuse a book or author for being problematic. That’s not the point of my post! Authors will write things they honestly believe in that are EXTREMELY PROBLEMATIC. And also authors will accidentally write things that are EXTREMELY PROBLEMATIC and they will learn, in a hard way, that their behaviour must change.

But I do think we should all consider that an author CAN write a character with problematic tendencies without the author themselves sharing the beliefs.

I personally do not believe that Suzanne Collins would like the country to use the Hunger Games which will involve people getting murdered for “entertainment”. Yet Katniss would have voted yes to the Hunger Games being used on her enemies.

I don’t believe Lemony Snicketthinks children deserve lives of misfortune. Yet obviously his characters get kicked in the teeth with it on every second page.

I don’t believe Sara J Maas wants to kill people, yet her protagonist is an assassin.

I don’t believe Leigh Bardugo thinks the best way to get back at your enemies is to STEAL EVERYTHING THEY OWN AND FRIGHTEN THEIR SOCKS OFF WITH EVIL THREATS, yet her protagonist does just that.

I don’t believe Adam Silvera is dismissive of mental illness even though his protagonist calls himself “crazy” and thinks his OCD might just be a “quirk”.

Because this is obviously a super important question! We can’t go around excusing everything and we won’t. And it’s impossible to always believe authors are doing the right thing. Because they won’t. Not always.

Characters in the book will REFUTE the bad things. A book can have sexism in it, but it’s not sexist if people are standing up to it and punching it in the eyeballs.

The character will learn, change, and develop as the story continues. Therefore resolving their problematic behaviour. They might also be called out by another character.

Evil gets PUNCHED and goodness gets invited out for scones and jam providing it’s not marmalade jam because if people are serving up marmalade they might be evil. Little life advice for you there.

The bad/problematic things aren’t glorified. For instance: there’s a difference between a character being abused in a book to the character falling in love with their abuser, forgiving them, and the abuse turning out to be sexy. The latter is glorified problematic abuse and #nope.

I haven’t done a discussion post in just about 30 years (well, maybe 3 months?) BUT LOOK! I’M BACK TO HAVING THOUGHTS! (The use of the term “back to having thoughts” is debatable but take it as you will.) But to boil down what I want to say to one sentence is just that:

I think authors can write about horrendous things and not personally agree with them. Authors are not their characters.

It’s not true for every author ever. It can be hard to tell. And you can totally disagree with me but that means YOU GOTTA DISCUSS IT WITH ME IN THE COMMENTS. Because I’m keen for your intelligent thoughts too, you hedgehogs of glory!

I, for one, write a lot of dark stories. I’ve written about a girl who was deaf and considered herself broken. She learnt (while other characters called her out on this problematic thinking) that she was emphatically wrong. I’ve written about a boy who kills people and the consequences he faced. I’ve written unhealthy relationships, but the characters fixed/changed/abandoned them for the right reasons. FOR GOODNESS SAKES: I wrote a character who hated cake. Hated it. I can 100% write about things I emphatically disagree with because I’m reflecting the world (which often sucks) and I want to think about what I write. Writing flaws are important.

SO TALK TO ME, FIENDS! i am obviously entirely needing of your discussions. do you think authors should agree with what they right??? how do you tell if a book is discussing problematic things or if the book ITSELF IS problematic?? do you think marmalade jam is evil??? because please. why does it exist.

PS. Just to be doubly sure you know: I‘m not excusing problematic authors and books! They exist and they’re not good. I really don’t want to be misinterpreted on that fact.

Comments

I think your discussion is very good and brings up some points that people tend to gloss over. It actually reminds me of a thought that occurred to me recently when witnessing the Twitter kerfuffle: what’s the difference between a racist author/book and a character in said book that’s racist? It can be hard to tell and I think in the atmosphere we currently find ourselves, we’re conditioned to jump on any instance of racism that we don’t take a second to think about that question.

I haven’t finished any of the more recent problematic books so I can’t verify the claims made against them, but I have altered the way I usually read in order to try and better understand. I’ve got out the post-its and am making notes when I notice instances one way or the other. For instance, in one book I’ve got on at the moment, it’s been called racist and so far the notes I’ve made are leading me to wonder whether these characters really are or whether they’ve been conditioned to be racist. Does that make sense? It doesn’t seem that they’ve actually had contact with the people they hate in a long time and that makes their hate quite ridiculous. I’m very interested to see where it goes because hating someone you’ve never met or interacted with based on someone else’s say so? That’s not cool and is definitely a contributing factor to the problems we’re having in the US.

I don’t think authors have to agree with everything they write because if they did, I have a feeling we’d only get people who saw things their own way and never learned different. Where would we be then?

Oh thank you, Heather! I was actually super worried to post this in case I came across wrong.🙈🙊 So I’m glad I got my point across sort of fluently.😂

And agreed: it IS hard to tell. And sometimes perhaps a racist character in a book might NOT get corrected too, which makes it hard to figure out. But it seems everyone is just ready to cut throats at the moment instead of discuss and think about it?? Which is sad. I think books are 50% reading and 50% thinking tbh.

(Can I ask what book you’re reading? Only if that’s okay!)

But also yes. *sighs* I mean, a lot of books are being called super racist right now, and I am 100% aware that hurtful books need to stop. But also isn’t it erasure to say that racism doesn’t happen? I think a lot of people have just grown up with it that it gets into their writing just on accident? I mean, obviously sensitivity readers are important but honestly? I think readers are taking things a lot shallower now these days and are just ready to cut instead of think about what the book is saying.

And plus authors could only really write one book, right!? And all the characters would sound the same = like the author. That’d be so boring.

It’s fine to ask. I’m reading Carve the Mark at the moment. I never finished the Divergent series, so I don’t have a lot invested in Veronica Roth as an author (though I did start Divergent and like it well enough so far). I don’t like how she went about talking about the chronic pain “gift” in interviews, but I’m wondering if that translates in the text and how much of what happened in the interviews were because of leading questions and/or because she got caught up and didn’t know how to answer. Sure she’s had experience by this point, but that doesn’t mean she’s got it down pat.

I’m going to have a review for it eventually with all my notes, but the whole atmosphere around this book in particular is really vicious. Twitter can be scary sometimes!

I actually have that one pre-ordered.🙈🙊 I’m not scared to read it, but I AM scared to review it. And I didn’t see any of these interviews where Veronica Roth stuffed up, so I think I should go googling for them before I review it maybe? Like if it’s racist and hurtful, I don’t want to be a problematic reviewer and endorse that. But at the same time I kind of don’t think Veronica Roth would do it intentionally? And perhaps she’s making a point with the book. IDK. That’s why I want to read it. 🙈

(I know she has anxiety? So it’s a good point maybe she messed up in the interviews on accident…)

I get the being worried about reviewing it. Googling might help. I haven’t read in-depth into the accusations, but I believe the basis is that one of the main races is portrayed as being savage and they are dark skinned, so they’re seen as a stand-in for natives or Africans.

Let me know what you think when you get it. Even if you don’t publish a review on the blog, I’d be curious what you thought.

I’m so glad you have addressed this BECAUSE THERE HAS BEEN SO MUCH AUTHOR BASHING LATELY and I just keep thinking, THIS IS FICTION. What on earth makes you think the author actually agrees with their racist character, or their character who likes killing better than sex? I mean, talk about messed up 😅

Also I van personally say that I tend to write a lot about people who have been abused and GOT OUT. Which, as per your point, is my way of saying there actually IS a way out, even if it seems like there isn’t. It doesn’t mean I condone abuse it just means I am acknowledging the fact that IT HAPPENS.

I think authors get bashed way too much for things that are moot in retrospect.

Omg I know right?!? It actually terrifies me a lot. Like I’ve seen an author completely bashed for one of their VILLAINS (VILLAINS!!) being racist. Like the guy was bad. He was supposed to be bad. We might’ve gotten too used to morally grey cute villains, but there are some pure evils ones out there. And we gotta be punched in the face with them occasionally.

And same! I write about abuse quite a lot…mostly because it actually terrifies me! And I wonder if a lot of authors do that?!? Like do we pick out the evil thing to write about that most disturbs us a lot???

And, sadly, agreed. 😫 I know there are problematic authors out there and they DO write books that need to stooooop. But a lot of the time they’re just writing flawed books. Society is flawed. If books weren’t, we wouldn’t read them, right?!??

I think that’s true. I also think a lot of authors write about abuse because they themselves have experienced it (either personally or have seen it happen). That’s why I write about it. I find it can be very theraputic.

Totally 😅 NOT ALL AUTHORS ARE GENIUS MASTERMINDS 😂😂 (aside from us of course!)

This. Exactly this. Have some virtual cake.
…admittedly, it becomes difficult to point out flaws the author has (possibly unwittingly) endorsed when they’ve put effort into refuting others *cough wheeloftime cough*, but your point is exactly right: we should accept that authors, as well as the characters they write, are gloriously flawed.

I definitely agree with you though, and it’s really hard to tell sometimes if the author or book is endorsing something?? Like I read a book once about dystopic sex slavery basically and it was SO THOROUGHLY DISTURBING and ended pointlessly and I was so mad at book and author. But it took me reading some reviews to realise it was a critique on society NOT the author having horrid views. This is why I think it’s good to discuss books, heheh.

Holy god, considering some of the things I write about… YEP, literally do not agree with 100% of them. Oh god I really hope readers do NOT think. O.o But I do try to balanced the darkness with some light and hope, too. Awesome post, Cait.

YES. Totally concur.😂 I write really dark stuff but I am 0% agreement with a lot of the things I write about. Which is why it worries me when readers start assuming authors do agree with everything in their novels.🙈🙊

This is wonderful <3 I agree! We want authors to create a realistic world and that's what some are doing. In a realistic world, there isn't just good and evil or black an white. There are a whole lot of colours and these are shown in the book; doesn't mean the author supports every single colour. But at the same time glorifying problematic things are bad! I hate reading abusive relationships that are romanticized. It's not okay to ENDORSE problematic things. Love your conclusion by the way! <3 And amazing post Cait!

Thank yooooou, Uma! *gives you cake* I think bookworms would be FURIOUS if authors started hand feeding us books with black-and-white morals. It would be dull and our brains would wither like little prunes from not thinking enough. We need flawed characters. And obviously authors are flawed and might make total horrible mistakes, and that doesn’t need to be excused, per se. But I think we all need to stop jumping to the conclusion that an author is the same as their protagonist!

OH MY GOSH THIS IS SUCH AN IMPORTANT POST!! I’ve seen a lot of this going around the book community, and when you think about it if authors did agree with everything EVERY character in their book that would be so scary! I just there is always a villain in a novel and that would mean that the author agrees with what the villain thinks?

THANK YOU JULIA!! I admit I was totally freaked to post in case I didn’t say my thoughts the right way, but it seems to have mildly come out right. 😜

And it’s so true?!?? Like no one yells at the author’s who write cold-blooded murderers but the second they have a secondary character who’s evil/racist/homophobic or something, they get shot for endorsing those beliefs. It’s all very unbalanced. I think we need to think about what we read more, maybe?!? And discuss it! And if we had perfect/flawless characters who never thought or did something problematic, books would be super boring. They need to learn/grow/change throughout the story. *nods*

I totally agree with this! I would say that problematic representation often happens by accident, and it makes me really sad that the authors are bashed (not that they shouldn’t fix it!). If there weren’t problems (aka things that trouble you/go against your values) in the world, there wouldn’t be much to write about imo. The world is complicated and more than a little messed up. I don’t *agree* with that persay, but I’m definitely gonna write about it. BUT MARMALADE IS DELICIOUS HOW DARE YOU MALIGN IT

Exactly! The world is problematic and people are flawed, and honestly if we read books wITHOUT those two things, we’d be very bored and disgruntled. It’d almost be erasing the difficulties we all face?? I think we just all have to remember to think about books and not just jump to the conclusion an author is endorsing something bad. 🙈🙊 and that goes for me too!!

I definitely agree with you here! As an odd sort of example, I remember with the for/against essays you had to write I’d always choose the view point I was against just to make it more challenging to write. Probably not the greatest idea on exams, but it was way more fun that way (plus, who says my viewpoints are right? Exploring other view points might make me a better person!).

It’s true! It’s actually really interesting to try and put yourself in another perspective as a writer! Not to say we need to change our opinions to agree with a heinous villain. But books would be boring if everyone was flawless, right?!

Your point stands but I think there’s a massive difference between a book where sexism is present but also being punched in the face and a book where a certain form of it is ingrained not only in the characters but present in the writing as a normal.
I’m aware that my statement is very jumbled but I don’t think even I fully understand what I’m trying to say.
But case in point, The raven boys. Imagine Gansey and the boys without Blue. When reading the boys perspective, their way of thinking is written very ingrained and you wouldn’t spot the sexism. (keep in mind, I’m talking about the book without the Blue parts.)
If you didn’t understand me at all, ignore me.
But what about Fifty Shades of Grey? That problematic? Does the author agree with all that?

Oh I totally agree! And I did mention that and underlined it, haha, in my post that there’s a difference between a book talking about problematic things and endorsing them. I’ve read SO many books where not only was the book talking about sexism, but the female heroine would be agreeing with it and not fighting it at all. I’m not okay with that. 😥

I’ll have to admit, I don’t understand what you’re saying about The Raven Boys at all. I don’t believe it’s sexist, although I believe sexist things/comments may be thrown around. But Blue is like my feministic hero.

I haven’t read 50 Shades so I’m not going to comment on it. I think it’s up to YOU as a reader to work out what you think of a book and not always have someone else decide for you, if that makes sense?

Everything that you have just said, I’ve been thinking for months. Sometimes I shake my head. yes people can refuse to read books, but then going out of their way to call the authors racist or whatever they deem that they are. I just can’t. Obviously, if the author is tweeting or talked about things that are racist or sexist it’s a different story. Thanks so much for this post!

Oh I’m glad you liked it Angel! I was really scared to post actually just because I’m worried it’d be taken the wrong way!🙈🙊 But I do think a lot of people (especially on twitter??) are very very quick to call people racist or homophobic or problematic to some degree because of their book, just assuming the author is endorsing everything they’re writing about. It’s almost like people want flawless books?? Which makes no sense because we’d be bored, wouldn’t we?! (And YES. Seeing an author tweet something super problematic is definitely a huge cause for concern and there’s no excuses for that.)

This is such an important point, especially with all the controversy surrounding authors and their books. I actually find it really interesting to read books that explore the darker parts of human nature because it’s the best way to see it play out without it actually happening. As long as the author doesn’t endorse the action and the book reflects that it wasn’t necessarily the best/right choice then usually I have no problem with it. There are however some topics that are incredibly sensitive and need to be approached as such.

YES. I agree! And I’ve seen authors be the most loveliest of people online and then write super dark books…so I think it’s fair to say not all authors are agreeing with their content. It’s more reflecting the world and exploring darkness and things, right!?? (Although, like I said in my post, some authors genuinely are problematic and I don’t want to excuse them.🙈🙊) I just think we bookworms need to remember to think about what we read quite a lot, right?! And so so much agreement on how sensitive some topics can be, and if not handled right….omg. Things can be super bad.

You make a valid point, but I also feel like I don’t see many instances of people directly referring to the author as racist/sexist/problematic. People (rightly) call a book problematic, and it’s usually the author and their followers who make the assumption that they’re being called problematic. I think it’s possible for an author to accidentally write problematic stuff. However, no one’s obligated to hold their hand when they make mistakes. I feel like if more authors just owned up and admitted their mistakes, people wouldn’t be so hard on them. Instead, most either fight back or ignore the issue entirely which causes people to think that they don’t care or they did it intentionally.

Also, sometimes intent really doesn’t matter. Just because an author didn’t intend to be problematic doesn’t erase the content. Most authors aren’t actively racist, homophobic, or sexist, but that’s what makes their mistakes so sinister. The fact that certain ideas are so ingrained in our society that privileged authors are blind to it. Then they write them into their books and people (usually marginalized folks let’s be honest) notice.

I don’t think it’s an issue of readers being sensitive or shallow. They’re just finally speaking up.

Well I’m glad you haven’t come across many instances of it! I have come across so so many, just in the last month even. It saddens me. And I don’t think a book can be called problematic without that being directed at the author, tbh. I mean they WROTE the book, right??

And sadly I’ve seen many authors own up to mistakes and receive no forgiveness…but that’s actually not what my post is about at all! I’m not talking about calling out problematic authors or who’s in the wrong or who’s right. My post is simply that I want to point out that people don’t have to agree with the actions of every character they write about. So while I totally get where you’re coming from and I agree with some of what you said there — my post isn’t about that. 🙂

YES. I feel like sometimes people forget that authors are NOT their characters. And in real life, people are sexist and racist, they do selfish things, they say casually hurtful things without even realizing the problem, they slut shame, etc. And I do like to see realistic characters in books. If everyone were perfect, that’d be a really unrealistic and boring book. But sometimes it can be hard to tell when something is actually problematic vs when it’s just realistic and purposefully done that way :-/

It is hard to tell!! And I don’t want to dismiss how hard it is honestly omg. 🙈🙊 But how boring would books be if everyone had perfect morals? It just wouldn’t even make sense, and it would almost erase the suffering people have to put up with in every day life.

I’ve typed out and attempted to re-write this comment three times in an attempt not to sound like I’m a pompous arse, but I don’t know how else to say it — this hot topic seems to be exclusively in the YA book community. There are lots of other books out there that explore darker themes with more twisted characters, and I certainly don’t expect, say, Gillian Flynn, to be actually supportive of chopping off ex-boyfriend’s heads.

I do like that the reading community is making authors more responsible in representing cultures, especially those not the author’s own, in their books. Writing a book may involve having a few the author’s thoughts/opinions in there, but we have to be responsible judges, the same way we’d like to be objective in judging someone we’ve met in person.

And all this how dare you read that book, it’s already been called racist — let people judge for themselves.

Ah, okay, I admit I was worried about posting this because I was worried people would interpret it as me talking about problematic authors — when I really don’t intend the post to be read that way! I may not have been as eloquent as I meant to be. And sorry about that then. The point of my post is simply that authors are not their characters. 🙂

And I may not have been as eloquent in my reply — I mean, I totally agree with your post! The themes/characters in an author’s book shouldn’t turn into the assumption that they are a complete representation of the author. Readers have to be mindful in making sweeping judgements like that. For instance, the recent Man Booker winner is a black man, and in his winning book, his character is a black man advocating slavery and segregation. It is obviously satire, and we can’t chalk everything to satire or “it’s fiction!”, but there is a thing where authors explore different views as an exercise, to show the reality that there are those kind of evil/absurd people in the world, and all those things you’ve enumerated up there.

@Gemma: Oh I’m really sorry for not understand what you meant the first time!! It was pretty late at night for me, so I might blame it on that.😜 And I really like your example just now and I totally get what you mean. And I think a lot of the time we writers accidentally are drawn to exploring things that really disturb us??! Because it’s a way of working through them and critiquing them at the same time.

S’alright 🙂 I’m not a writer, but didn’t someone say ‘write something that makes you uncomfortable’ as some sort of writing exercise? Like, it’s the next level to ‘write what you know’. I mean, I could be making this all up, haha! ‘Write something so disturbing, so far out of this world, but somehow make it believable or logical to your reader.’ Yeah, can’t do that, and that’s why I’m not a writer! 😀

I don’t think I’m saying this right/clearly, but Gemma’s comment on how this seems to mainly affect YA books got me thinking. Do you think that this is a “hot topic” for YA books because of a general lack of respect for children’s authors? (I’m using the term “children’s” in the broad sense as it tends to be used in the library profession.)

@Inkling: Oh okay! Sorry if I didn’t understand you properly, too, Gemma! I’m trying.😜 And Inkling: I do think it’s quite a prevalent topic right now, especially on twitter…but I feel like it’s not because people don’t respect YA/MG authors. I think it’s maybe because there ARE so many problematic books out there? And they keep getting published and it is genuinely concerning. So that readers are more quick to judge/hate because they’ve been hurt so much in the past?? But I don’t know for sure. That’s just a small guess I have.

I’m so glad you wrote this post, it’s so incredibly important. I feel like recently people have been jumping on authors and calling them out for being racists and whatever else without actually taking the time to think about it. I understand discrimination of any sort if a huge issue and shouldn’t be tolerated but there’s a huge difference between being something of that nature being in a book and whether that actually reflects an authors opinion. I personally feel like books are more interesting when the character is at first problematic and then grows and develops over time. If every book had perfect characters who could do no wrong books would be extremely boring.

Well done for writing this post, I know this can be a touchy subject but I think you wrote it in a very informational and respectful way!

I couldn’t agree more! And I, also, have no intention of excusing problematic books or authors and they do need to be called out and addressed. *nods* But I do think we bookworms have to remember to think about the book on a deeper level too? Like, I almost feel if we had perfectly moral characters on every page it would be (A) boring like you said, and (B) almost erasure of the struggles people IRL go through?? They key is character development and change for the heroes, and comeuppance for the villains! If neither of those are addressed, then the book is genuinely problematic.

But thank you. <3 I don't deny I'm a little terrified it's going to be misinterpreted. But hopefully no one skims it or misses the point and I get my point across without unintentionally saying something wrong.🙈🙊

Agree agree agree! I’m glad you’re sharing your view in this discussion. I have noticed recently there has been a lot of talk and controversy surrounding problematic authors/books and by reading said books, are you supporting them etc. I think this is an extremely difficult topic to just separate what’s right and wrong and it’s definitely hard to discern whether a book is problematic if it’s purely a character endorsing a particular offensive viewpoint. I find that a lot of people are calling out authors for the mere inclusion of a problematic topic even if they smash that despicable topic, especially if it’s conveyed through character who thinks like that for the duration of the book. I get especially confused when people are referring to villains with this argument. The line is very grey. I do think part of distinguishing problematic topics is the actual reading process because everyone will probably have a different experience and it’ll affect some more than others. Like there’s more controversy concerning topics based on well-known real life horrors in comparison to more “absurd or outlandish ideas”. Very mixed feelings. Another awesome post Cait *hands you cake* 😀

Yes it really worries me too. 😥 Like people will start entire hate chains on books with problematic elements….but they don’t say whether those elements get resolved or not? That’s what I want to know when I read a book! And I think the problem IS how grey the line is!! Like there’s a very controversial book coming out (just come out?) that I’ve seen many people label as racist…but I’ve also seen people of colour say it’s not. So that’s also really confusing and hard to know what to do! Especially when the internet is not forgiving. And I suppose it’s doubly hard for people who use history as inspiration, because history is extremely problematic. Agh. So many grey areas. I think we just all need to discuss/think about books we read and listen to lots of people’s perspectives!

MARMALADE IS NOT EVIL. ESPECIALLY NOT THE GINGER KIND. Good. Now that that’s out of the way: I love the point you make, Cait, about the difference between letting something problematic be in your story and not saying it’s okay. I, for one, think it’s a good thing for character development and an opportunity to actually show how problematic issues might/might not be dealt with properly. The world would be boring if everyone thought and acted without conflict. Also was your character cured of his dislike for cake?

NO NO, I’M SORRY, ANNIE-JO YOU ARE WRONG. MARMALADE IS VERY EVIL AND YOU NEED TO CHANGE YOUR WAYS.

I’m so glad you liked the post though!! I might even forgive your marmalade affection!! I think this is an easy thing to forget and we all have to remind ourselves of it from time to time, right?!? The world has so many bad things in it, it’d be erasure to not talk about them in books. The trick is being CLEAR that problematic things are not okay.

This is an excellent post. As the saying goes, there isn’t a story out that hasn’t been told before (badly paraphrasing) The point is people/authors write from “their” perspective based most often on “their” life experiences. Characters often reflect some of the authors personalities or traits. Crime and true crime are my favorite genres to both read and write. My stories are dark, but because my characters often kill off their husbands or get revenge doesn’t mean I’m a serial killer underneath my grandma persona. The psychology of what we as humans are capable of is fascinating to me and In real life, not all people DO get socked in the face or grow into a better person. Life isn’t like that. Sometimes people/characters are bad till the end. When I read such a story, I may have questions, but labeling an author isn’t one of them. I agree authors should not be “judged” as if they “are” the character. A story is a story from the authors perspective. Their perspective don’t have to agree with mine, but to “label ” any fiction author (take your pick) is in my opinion , nothing more than a reflection of the current societal atmosphere. What ever happened to reading a book for the sake of enjoyment. A book has always been an avenue for me to immerse myself into another world and come out either dancing because I loved it so much or pondering (for days) over the book because it brought a new perspective to me.
Sorry if this came across as jumbled but hope I made my point.

Absolutely true! And I think it’s important for us alllll to remember that evil doesn’t always lose too. Which is annoying and sad and wrong?!?? But like most of us aren’t here for black-and-white fairy tales with happy endings. And I do think a lot of writers explore things they adamantly disagree with as a way of, like, venting or dealing or critiquing the situation. We just have to not take books always at face-value and remember to think about them deeply.

Of course I don’t think authors believe in everything they write about – nor would they behave the same way their characters do. In most cases, at least. And I definitely want to read about problematic themes, but I don’t want those problematic themes to be glorified. However, I think even an author who might seem to glorify a problematic theme might have done so by mistake… or because there is something in that situation they write about that is similar to something that has happened for real, and therefore they don’t necessarily realise that some people will be upset by the glorification?
It would be scary if I woke up one morning to a dystopian world with zombies I had to run from… I would probably be the very first character to die, because I absolutely hate running. That doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy reading about those things, right?
And since I am completely into reading about things I would never want to live through in real life (sometimes, even some good stuff – I like my life the way it is!) I think it’s completely understandable that authors might want to explore universes and characters they would never want to encounter in the real world, either.

Yes! Exactly! The problem is when the problematic themes are either glorified or excused with no retribution or not showed as problematic at all. That’s when we need to get worried. And yes I think there are MANY authors who’ve been accidentally problematic (which is why sensitivity reader are so important, right!?) and I do hope they learn and change…and it does scare me how much public shaming happens without people have a real and serious discussion about these topics. A lot of authors want to learn/change, I think, but it’s a bit scary to come back from being burned alive across the internet for an accident.

And for sure! I mean, just being a writer myself I really like exploring things I hate because it’s almost a way of venting a bit!?

I love this post, and I think it’s something we all need to be reminded of.

As you stated, how the problematic content is handled is a big part of determining whether or not the book is problematic. However, it also depends a great deal on the beliefs you come into the book with. As a conservative Christian, there are books that I find problematic (for example, the ones glorifying homosexual relationships) that other people don’t. I might still enjoy the rest of the book, if the relationship or whatever else isn’t the main focus, but I won’t enjoy it as much as I would’ve without that element. And that’s ok. Authors are allowed to write what they want, and the media (including books) is a product of the culture as well as a producer of it. But the fact remains: some people will find things problematic that other people don’t.

Also, marmalade exists so you can use it to make orange chicken. I don’t think there ought to be any other reason for it. But it’s useful for that purpose.

I do see where you’re coming from but don’t necessarily agree with everything you said. But that’s ok! And hopefully that’s okay for you too and we can still be friends but not fully agree on what each other counts as problematic! 🙂 I do agree, however, that people WILl find things problematic that others won’t. Like for me, I read a really bad representation on anxiety disorders (which I have so I know haha) but I saw other people with anxiety loving that book. So there’s things like that which’ll differ between readers!

I honestly am not a big fan of SJM.. (I still can’t comprehend why CHAOL was trashed) Anyways, I do need to read a Leigh Bardugo and an Adam Silvera book! *shuffles TBR* but this was an amazing discussion and thanks for addressing this issue! I think that there is so much author bashing on Twitter, I am sceptical of making an account lol😂😂

Dude, I am 0% a fan of SJM. 😂 So you’re in good company haha. (WHAT DID CHAOL EVEN DO TO DESERVE TO BE THROWN OUT OF THE SERIES? IT WAS SO DUMB.) And yes twitter is a bit scary and explosive at the moment. I think people have genuinely been hurt A LOT by very problematic books…so now it’s just everyone getting furious sand upset straight away instead of thinking about the book deeper. 🙈🙊

YES! I absolutely think some books ARE genuinely problematic and need to be called out and not read, probably. But a lot aren’t, and yet they’re just getting all pushed under one problematic umbrella before we all really think deeply about them. 😥

Could you imagine a world in which Jonathan Swift actually meant what he wrote and wanted us to eat babies? Or if Shakespeare thought drinking poison because your daddy didn’t like your boyfriend was a good idea? Like??????? Where did we get this idea that authors believed everything they wrote? Agatha Christie wasnt a reformed serial killer, yet she wrote crime novels. There’s a huge difference between giving a critique of the world through literature, and bring problematic. I’m glad you wrote about it! I especially like the “how to tell” section

This NEEDED to be said. A character can have problematic beliefs without the author sharing them. Look at books like Lolita and American Psycho – neither of their writers were criminals. They just wrote about them disturbingly well.

YES, thank you, thank you, thank you. I’ve never understood why people are so quick to jump on authors for these things when clearly it’s just meant for the story and NOT as advice or a personal opinion. Like, for the amount of murder and illegal activity that happens in YA, we should all be thinking that authors are secretly serial killers in disguise. But that’s obviously ridiculous, so why do we bring out the claws for other issues that are also not glorified? I personally love flaws in characters and events that make me absolutely bonkers in stories because I know that (usually) all of that will be dealt with later and it’ll be super satisfying to see those annoying things be squashed.

Omg absolutely. It’s actually totally hypocritical a lot, right?? We’re very quick to understand authors aren’t murderers, but not that they’re not racist or sexist etc. I think everyone’s a bit on edge these days from having been hurt by so many genuinely problematic books…but it’d be good if we all slowed down a bit and thought about the books a bit deeper, maybe? (Again! Totally not meaning/wanting to excuse actually bad things here though!)

THANK YOU KATE! I was really nervous about it.😂 I didn’t want to rant angrily or get my point across badly, but ahhhh, I always worry I’ll be taken the wrong way.😂 SO I’m glad it made sense!! (I have also written sexist characters and I’m so against that omg. It’s one of my biggest points of righteous fury.)

I agree with your post. A lot of the time, we writers have to make conflict in the plot and between the characters. This often produces crazy wacko plot twists and crazy wacko characters. It’s like murder — when you’re writing about someone murdering other people (whether it’s your MC or your antagonist), that doesn’t mean you’re PROMOTING murder, or saying that murder can solve all your problems (because it won’t). It’s just a way to create conflict and give the story more depth. But then there are those books where everyone is just grotesquely murdered for no reason, and that’s when you know that it’s going sliiiiiiiiiightly overboard.

(But when we murder our own characters, that doesn’t mean anything. We’re just killing them off… for… fun. Hmm.)

Anyways, great post! I agree and think that it’s important people realize that all the negative things in authors’ books doesn’t mean the authors are promoting that or believe in it. (But sometimes, it does, or is what you called in your post a “problematic book”.)

Also, you were very enthusiastic in your post. I could totally imagine you saying this words and throwing your hands around. To your computer. In your own bedroom. Because, you know, #people

DUDE. The first thought on your mind right now should be: marmalade is evil and should be destroyed. 😜😉

Ahem. But BACK TO THE TOPIC AT HAND. 😂 It’s just impossible to write books without problematic elements in them, I nearly think? Books tend to critique or reflect society and we do live in a damaged world. I mean, this world promotes marmalade. Proof that it’s broken.

Also just imagine me frowning at my computer while typing this up and also cursing giphy.com for not letting me find the gifs I needed.😂

I think when it comes to including characters or subject matter they disagree with, the author needs to ask themselves why they’re including it. There are lots of bad things that books would simply be unrealistic without, or sometimes (as you said) the bad thing is included so it can be critiqued. But there are also authors who include terrible things for shock value so they can sell more books. You can usually tell which kind of author you’re dealing with by how they respond to public outcry about whatever terrible thing they wrote about. Authors who have good reasons for writing about terrible stuff will have detailed explanations ready for how the awful stuff was meant to impact the characters/reader or meant to draw attention to an important social/moral issue. Authors who just want to sell more books usually fall back on things like “If I didn’t write it someone else would have, so why does it matter?” or “It’s not my fault; that’s just what people want to read.”

Agh yes, shock value is a wholeeee big issue too. Like sometimes I honestly can’t tell when something is shock value?? But I’m 99% sure George RR Martin’s violence is mostly shock value, yikes. And I agree: that can be entirely another kettle of off fish to talk about. 😳

But also sometimes its hard for us, as readers, to know what the author is thinking and if they have this good-enough-reason to write about what they do. So I think a little leeway might sometimes be needed? But anyone with the mindset of people want to read problematic stuff and it just gets glorified?? Yeah that’s definite nope.

Since I am a Christian human being, I used to think (years and years ago) that if my MC so much as told a little white lie, then I would be telling everyone that I SUPPORT LYING AND DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, but then I realized that I didn’t have to write about perfect unicorns who did nothing wrong in their life. Ever.. Now my novels are filled with stabbing and bloody death and torture AND IT’S SO MUCH MORE FUN. It’s also much more readable, because those perfect unicorn characters get real boring real quick. XD

I’m glad you learned that one, Laura! 🎉 Perfect characters are downright unrelatable because NONE of us are perfect. The thing is making sure our characters are aware of their problematic behaviours or, if not, they at least get comeuppance about it.

I think this is a REALLY good discussion, and it’s TRUE!. One of my main characters believes that the world should be conquered, and he even has good reasons to back up his belief. He’s cast as an antogonist part of the time (though my protagonist starts out sympathetic to his cause because she doesn’t know better). But he also has a book all to himself, where he’s the protagonist. And I certainly don’t believe that our lives should be all about conquest and taking over the world. That’s silly. And you’re 100% right that we’d all get bored if every book and every character were perfect. Flaws are REAL. Opposing beliefs are REAL. And I think it’s good to reflect that in our books 🙂

Thanks, Michelle!! I was so nervous about it.🙈🙊 But I’m really glad I seem to have gotten my point across without saying the wrong thing or something I didn’t intend to mean!! SO THAT’S ENCOURAGING. And I really like the sound of your book and that’s exactly what I’m talking about *nods* And if we just take all the flaws and problematic beliefs out of our books and make everyone think like us…books would be boring and conversation would be stagnant. I have a character who’s been abused, but they still don’t hate their abuser. (Even though many other characters are fighting against it in my story.) I think psychology also comes to play in a lot of these things too.

I think you put it all pretty perfectly. Although, I’ve never had Marmalade in any form, so I can’t say how I feel about it. But, back to writing, I feel like in result of more people speaking up about problems with representation we are getting more discussion about the not so agreeable things some authors might be putting in their works. I would say the majority of us agree that problematic things are going to slip out once in a while and that sucks, but it is an excellent opportunity to learn and grow. Both for the writer whose writing is in question, other writers who are able to participate in the discussion, and readers as well! I think the biggest issue is that humans are so quick to defend themselves rather than excepting critic and then going through with learning from their mistakes. We all know life isn’t perfect and is often really messed up, but asking for better representation or even more respectful representation or for omg can someone in the story tell that character that thinking that way is exactly why modern society is still so disgusting??!! is so so important!! And I think as writers and readers we need to take those ideas and really adopt them into how we view the literature we consume.. or cough up (questionable metaphor, but bear with me). The whole point of criticism is to grow! That brings me to another point! You can criticize the crap out of a book but..hold on wait for it…still enjoy it!!? YES!! That ability to take a step back and realize “okay, but this is very very problematic.” is what is so important and wonderful!! Okay I think my extension rant to your original rant is over now. Thanks for this post!

Just trust me: stay away from marmalade. It wants your SOUL and it is made by evil forces of the darkness. #legit

And I agree with you totally! I think a lot of authors are unintentionally problematic. (Not to excuse them, and they need to learn/change — but that doesn’t always mean they are as awful as people suddenly think they are.) And YES the defending is the problem. And also, opposite of that, the public shaming. I mean who does well with public shaming??? It’d be nice if more people could consider talking before they go to yelling. And we DO need to ask for better representation and call out the books that are doing it wrong. And I quietly surmise that perhaps so so many readers have been hurt by genuinely problematic books that they’re just very ready to be furious at the first sign of something problematic without, perhaps, finishing the book or really discussing/thinking about what the author wants to say.

And YES! We can enjoy problematic books and still criticise them absolutely.

Oh thank you for commenting and understanding where I’m coming from. <3

This is SUCH an important discussion. You’re so right, Cait, there are lots of authors receiving MAJOR flack lately for supposedly being racist/hating/prejudiced/makers of marmalade jam, when they are most likely/obviously trying to prove a point, and they won’t actually be seen attacking POC or small children or animals in the streets. Look at JK Rowling as a great example. All the terrible things her villains did – but that doesn’t FOR A SECOND mean she thinks they’re great ideas. And as a writer myself – who has some of my characters doing not cool things, but totally to PROVE A POINT – I really, really appreciate this discussion. It’s necessary. Thanks, Cait.

Thank you, Daley. <3 I was really worried about it.🙈🙊 And hopefully no one is taking it the wrong way!! eep. I think a lot of readers have been severely hurt by a lot of seriously problematic books, and now everyone is just super jumpy and ready to attack without thinking very much about what they're reading. And omg yes to JK Rowling. But even her heroes had problems! Ron/Harry were frequently very sexist towards Hermione and Ron was racist towards house elves. Those behaviours ALL got comeuppances though! And that's the difference! And I write about bad stuff all the time to prove points and critique stuff.

I 100% agree with a lot of what you said. I feel like the book world is such a contentions space right now because of how much bashing is going on with certain authors. I’m literally not going to review Carve the Mark when I read it because of how beat up reviewers (and even non-reviewers) are getting for even just saying they want to read it. I’ve heard a LOT of mixed things about the book, obviously from the side where people are claiming it’s racist, but then there are authors and a number of other reviewers that are saying the exact opposite thing, and I can’t tell what’s blown out of proportion and what’s actually problematic, and I want to read it myself and find out. In that vein, I feel like people are quick to jump on authors for writing it. Like, okay, if Huckleberry Finn came out in 2017 I guarantee that Mark Twain would have been burned at the stake on twitter for the racist elements in his book, but INSTEAD we read it in schools and have intelligent discussions about it. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. It seems like automatically people jump on the author for “being racist” when that was likely not their own view point. With Veronica Roth, she’s getting attacked now for an interview she did where chronic pain comes up and people are saying she called chronic pain a “gift”. Actually, it was the interviewer who said that. I read the interviewer. Maybe she could have clarified a little bit in her answer, but I 100% didn’t interpret it in the way it’s being portrayed now on social media, and I’m someone who suffers from chronic pain. I think sometimes people are too quick to jump on the hive mind and agree with it without doing their own research, and it just snowballs.

I have a lot of thoughts on the subject that I’m too afraid to say in public social media, so I’m thankful you wrote this and that I can share some of them here, but yeah, I have a hard time with it. I saw someone the other day FREAK OUT on twitter because at the end of the book it came out who the bad guy was, and it was a minor character who happened to be gay who became obsessed with another character in a book and killed someone so he could be with said character. He went on and on and on about how it was a trope about gay’s being obsessive, and how he was going to write a really harsh review and call the author out on it, etc. Like, listen. I can’t TELL you how many times I’ve read a book where a straight character killed someone to get to the man/woman they were obsessed with…it’s a common plot in thrillers! The author was trying to be unique and said not a single bad word about gay people, but people feel like they have to be so QUICK to call authors out on “problematic” behavior that it’s gotten completely out of control in some situations.

Anyway, I feel like that got WAY too long, but clearly I needed an outlet with someone who can understand what I’m saying and not jump on me for being racist for wanting to read Carve the Mark and form my own opinion! Ha! Now, all of that said, I want to make it clear for anyone who might be reading this that I absolutely don’t condone racism, homophobia, ableism, etc. and that yes, some books ARE problematic and that should be addressed, I just think that there are times where the controversy comes up and that in order to decide how I feel about it, I need to read the book for myself.

Omg yes Carve the Mark is a really frightening one. I actually have had it pre-odered for a while, so I’ll be reading it…but I’m not sure if I’ll be brave enough to review it. Did you see the article Sabaa Tahir wrote about it? She’s a WOC and is entirely okay with it. So I don’t even know what to think anymore. 🙈🙊 I always want to be sensitive to people who are hurt by things, but at the same time the book community seems hurt by everything and IDK who to turn to when everyone is having wildly different opinions.

And I SO AGREE ABOUT THINGS LIKE MARK TWAIN!! Those books are disgustingly racist. Most of Australian classic literature is disgustingly racist too…but we talk about it. We critique it. We have discussions about it. Right? I wish we did that over newer books too.

I heard that about Veronica Roth and the “pain is a gift” thing and that’s so confusing. I thought it was in the book but it’s just in an interview?? So that’s a hard one. I obviously don’t want to condone any problematic behaviour, but I also have heard Veronica Roth has pretty intense anxiety struggles. So I wonder if she might’ve said something wrong in interviews because of that too? Again, I don’t want to excuse, but it’s confusing me.🙈🙊 (And omg I have been on the end of someone just calling me completely false things and tons of people just joining in and agreeing without researching. It’s frightening and frustrating.)

I think a lot of we readers are more quick to get offended than to think it over. 😥 I’ve also seen a few readers recently surmising that a sequel of a series was going to be horrible and basically promoting this sequel to be problematic before they’d even read it. It was so concerning!

Anyway, I really understand where you’re coming from! I, too, have no intention of condoning problematic behaviour, but I think we as a book community might need to slow down and think a little bit deeper about the books we’re reading. (And, I’ve heard diversity book bloggers also say that it’s fine if we read the problematic books so long as we acknowledge and take into consideration the bad elements. And I think that’s a good guideline!)

I can’t blame you for being nervous to review it publicly. I’ve already decided that I won’t and my social media presence in the book world is a lot smaller than yours, but I’ve seen people get called racist in twitter for saying they want to read the book and form their own opinion, and I can’t respect that. It goes back to our earlier point of a lot of classic literature being blatantly racist, but we still read it so we can have informed and intellectual discussions on it and talk about the problematic issues. It seems like no one bats an eye at that, but with new books it’s a witch hunt. Similarly to the fact that authors don’t always believe what they write, readers don’t always agree what they read, BUT the fact of the matter is that it makes us better, more informed, more empathetic human beings by reading things that aren’t 100% what you think/believe, and I think that’s a good thing.

I actually read Sabaa Tahir’s interview and respected her a lot for talking about it and going against the grain on her thoughts. I thought she expressed herself well, and came from a place that was based on fact. I think a LOT of the people making comments about CtM being racist haven’t even read it yet, so it makes me worried that so many people can jump on a bandwagon that’s so damaging to the author without doing any research on their own. I’m SO SO sorry you’ve had that happen to you! It’s out of control, and I think that social media makes it easier because people feel like they can say whatever they want to you because they don’t see your face/reactions when they do.

I totally agree with your last thought too, that it’s okay to read books that are problematic as long as you go in with an open mind and are open to critiquing it and understanding where the problems lie, even if you like the book! Every single review I read about CtM was overwhelmingly positive and had no mention of racism until one person brought it up, and now the rest of the reviewers have had to go back and edit their reviews to add disclaimers about it…but the fact that so many people didn’t pick up on it initially makes me really curious to find out if it’s been blown way out of proportion or not.

Thank you for posting this blog! I think it’s sparked some really great discussion that I’ve been reluctant to share anywhere else given how hostile the book world seems to be right now ha!

Agh yes, I’ve been called racist because I didn’t like a book by a POC author … the reason I didn’t like the book was because it had instalove. Which I don’t like in books by white authors either. But once someone starts calling another blogger racist/problematic, there are dozens of people ready to spread hate and believe lies without even reading the original review. The interent sucks honestly. BUT SORRY DIDN’T MEAN TO WHINE HERE.😂 But I am very passionate about the topic of “pls let’s all stop and think a bit!?” because I’ve had harmful things happen to me for no cause.

AND BLESS TAHIR IS ALL I CAN SAY. 💕 I particularly like how she said that not all POC are going to have the same experience and thoughts on a topic. That’s so important! Twitter seems to want everyone to have a hive mind and just automatically agree. That’s ridiculous and it smells like censorship.

You’re most welcome! I hope my blog can always be a place for safe discussion where we can all, like, stop and listen to various opinions without pulling out the knives. *hi fives*

BAH! I didn’t get a notification for this one either! HA! I know this is a delayed reply BUT I’m going to reply anyway because I liked this conversation we were having!

I’m so sorry that happened to you, omg. I don’t know how that’s fair to assume every person who reads a book by a POC should automatically love it, otherwise they are racist. I certainly don’t love every book I read by a white author, so WHY should it be different just because they are a POC or minority group? SHEESH. People are ridiculous. I haven’t had my book twitter for a super long time, but when I started it I followed a ton of people that were part of the bookish community butttttttt that was a mistake. I recently went and unfollowed a ton of people because they were jumping on anyone who had a different opinion of theirs, and they weren’t nice about it, and then like you said, everyone else who is their friend would also attack the person and a lot of times it was unwarranted and unfair, so I did a clean up of who I was following ha! It’s out of control right now. I think a lot of people are struggling to find the balance between what’s the right way to go about addressing issues with problematic things in books without attacking every author/reader who mentions it or reads it. I think a lot of times it’s blown way out of control. and it actually makes me really angry how many one star ratings I see on Goodreads from people who HAVEN’T READ THE BOOK. Like, yes, feel free to shelve it and write your thoughts about why you won’t read it, but stop rating it!! Ahhh! Pet peeve! I’m over how many people can’t think for themselves and automatically hate on a book/author because someone else does. Rant over!

(WordPress is really out to eat me these days. 😒🙈🙊😂 Hopefully I figure out how to fix the comment-reply feature soon though!)

And yES. Thinking for oneself is very important!! I mean, there are many books I decide to skip because of bad reviews by people I trust…but I don’t make it my life’s work to hate on that book/author afterwards. There’s such a huge difference between deciding not to support an author and absolutely murdering them across the internet. That all saying, obviously books and authors do, on occasion, need to be called out. And I don’t want to be “silencing” or anything. Everyone can have an opinion and voice it! But people get so rabid without doing ANY research themselves and they’re so keen to take things out of context. From being on the receiving end it just makes me not really trust people as easily anymore. Which is sad! But can’t let the haters drown out how many lovely and encouraging and supportive people are around. <3

I think this is a really interesting discussion topic. I can see both sides. On one hand, you’re totally right. There are reasons why an author might write about something he/she doesn’t agree with, especially if it’s shedding light on an important topic, or providing a different point of view, etc. I think those books are important, and authors need to have the creative freedom to tell the story that needs to be told.

On the other hand, I think that authors who write about topics that they DO agree with and are fervently in favor of might have a more powerful impact. Maybe their opinions differ from the norm. Their voice needs to be heard to show others that it’s okay to think differently. I think authors should write about things they are passionate about.

There is certainly overlap here, though. You can be passionate about something you don’t necessarily agree with? And you can definitely fight for a cause even if it isn’t YOUR cause. (I guess kind of like HeforShe?)

Oh yes! I was in no way diminishing the need of authors to promote beliefs/opinions they emphatically agree with! That’s like a whole other topic for another time.😜 And I didn’t actually intend the post to mean authors should write about things they’re not passionate about, haha. Like I just more meant elements in a book could be problematic without the author agreeing/supporting them. Hope that makes sense now!

Interesting discussion. I don’t think authors need to agree with what they write. Have you ever read the book Stuck in Neutral? In the story, a father considers killing his severely disabled son. The book’s author also has a disabled son, and some people thought the book was “proof” that the author wants to kill his kid. Um . . . no. Writing about murder doesn’t mean you’re going to commit murder. Be reasonable, people.

I haven’t actually heard of that one! That would be very easy for audiences to misinterpret too, omg. But I agree with you. And I write about stabby things all the time and yet I’m like one of the most pacifist people you’d ever meet, honestly.😜

These are really good points. I think authors SHOULD include problematic things in books if they feel it’s right. Things they don’t necessarily agree with. Racist characters, killing, robbery… All their merry, lovely hearts desire. There was a twitter thread a while ago, about the difference and I really liked the logic.

You know the author doesn’t agree with a certain character’s behavior by for example using other characters to reflect their disapproval, or maybe having there be consequences for this kind of behavior, bad consequences. Of course, they can also, like mention these kinds of things in interviews and say ‘I wrote X thing because I think we should be aware of this X issue, but I do not approve of this behavior’. Make it very clear they do not endorse it, specially in the most problematic things.

The fact that the authors of the books currently being discussed for being problematic never said something about it leads me to believe they genuinely didn’t notice, but that only means they need to apologize and do better next time.

Yes yes absolutely! Particularly in YA and MG categories because sometimes younger readers might need the extra reassurance on what the book is trying to say? I know I always appreciated that as a teen. (Not that I’m that far off being a teen.😜) And I think it needs to be IN the actual book, in case readers don’t see the interviews. But a lot of time authors are critiquing and working through feelings of current society. And that’s actually good. They just need to be clear that problematic behaviours will get their comeuppance. *nods* And we readers probably should slow down and not go straight to shouting so often maybe.😜

(But absolutely yes to them apologising and doing better next time when they mess up. I do absolutely think authors can be problematic on ACCIDENT. It’s not an excuse, more of a reason. And like it’s pretty awful to have to be called out and publicly shamed, and I feel bad for them a lot. But I don’t think authors are as intentionally horrible as sometimes twitter makes it out to be? They do need to be corrected, absolutely, don’t get me wrong. But yes.)

(NO NO YOU ARE WRONG. THERE IS NO GOOD IN MARMALADE THERE IS ONLY DARKNESS.)

I totally agree with you. I think if authors could only write things they agreed with they would be pretty limited in what they could write, and couldn’t really write anything dark. I think a lot of the time writers need to write stuff they disagree with to call attention to problems in society, and things they want to see change, and having a fictional character work through that stuff is a great way of doing it.
Awesome post! 🙂

And we’d only basically be able to write one character. Which would be preeeetty boring.😜 And YES. Like I didn’t mention this in the post (I should have!!) But have you heard of Louise O’Neill and her book Only Ever Yours? It is entirely about like a dystopic society that functions on sex slavery and it’s really confronting and awful and I hated it at first….but it’s actually a critique on society. And if a reader took it on face value, it’d look like the author was an abusive sexist cruel person. But in reality she’s speaking out against it. we really have to consider what we read carefully, I think.

Mmm… marmalade! (Just kidding. Hahaha… I used to really dislike it when I was a kid. That wouldn’t necessarily stop me from writing a character who liked it, though.)

I think you pointed out the important things: that if a book tackles problems, they should be viewed as problems. Like, don’t write a misogynist racist who never gets called on it and expect not to get called on it as an author.

On the other hand, there are authors who really don’t want to write about certain things because they don’t believe in them… and that’s completely fine, too. If you’re uncomfortable with a topic you don’t believe in, you don’t have to bring it up at all. Maybe your book is about something else entirely! Not all books have to be about all things.

NO I DRAW THE LINE AT MARMALADE LOVING CHARACTERS. Look I’ll forgive an assassin — but noooooo to marmalade. What’s with all the weird pithy bits floating in it??? Plus it’s orange. Jam can ONLY BE RED. Even black jam is out. And God forbid yellow jam. Just no. #CaitsJamRageMoment 😜

And absolutely! If someone’s going to write a racist who never gets called out and has a ‘happy ending’ with their warped beliefs — ya I’m going to assume the author is racist. If a racist character DOES get called out and their beliefs addressed and they get comeuppance for any evil they do because of their racism — I’m going to assume the author is not racist and is speaking up against it.

And 100% yes! No one should be telling people what to write! I think it’s perfectly fine for authors to not write about things that make them uncomfortable. We need all kinds of books in the world after all.

Basically what you said – the problematic content needs to be called out by another character, or remain distinctly un-glorified. Of course authors won’t always agree with what they write, but they have to be very careful to avoid tired stereotypes or condoning problematic behaviour. Which is why beta/sensitivity readers are so important, to avoid the kind of fiascos we’ve been seeing on Twitter.

Exactly! And I know a lot of authors unintentionally have problematic elements in their books, which isn’t an excuse! But sadly it happens. Just another very firm reason sensitivity readers are so important (particularly if one is writing something that isn’t #ownvoices).

I absolutely agree! My current book world is seriously messed up, but that doesn’t mean I agree with it! There are a lot of terrible people and situations involved, but the point of the story is that my character grows away from that and comes out a much better person. It’s perfectly fine to write about dark stuff because sometimes life isn’t all rainbows and unicorns! The problem only arises when the terribleness isn’t resolved constructively and it doesn’t show any kind of growth. Great post! 🙂

SO SO TRUE. And while a lot of people want light/fluffy stories (and that’s fine!!) a lot of us don’t. A lot of us want realistic books.😜 And a cast of characters who are all perfectly unproblematic and morally perfect is just nooooot what is in this world. (And 100% agreed that it IS a problem if the bad stuff doesn’t get addressed!)

I laughed so hard at some of your examples 😂😂 it’s so true though! I get frustrated with people who don’t analyse the book and what it’s trying to achieve and make you feel before they shove potato peels in its face. When I come across said type of person I wanna be like, hey, fairytales are that way *whacks them with a bouquet of lillies*

I knoooow. I think it’s very hard because there are a LOT of problematic books in the world, like genuinely damaging problematic books. So now people are just ready to cut down potatoes and forests and galaxies with really considering what books are trying to say.😥

Yessssyesyes. Just … yes. How are we supposed to have themes if we make all our stories all light and happy and fluffy?? Books wouldn’t mean anything if they didn’t deal with reality. *high fives you for this post*

I don’t think authors have to agree with everything they write. I think deep down what they are trying to get across to readers they should agree with. I feel like you know how much an author agrees with their writing, by the passion that is in the story. Like I just finished All the Bright Places and Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven. I felt like the author expressed more personal feelings in All the Bright Places than in Holding Up the Universe. Plus you are totally right that authors don’t have to agree with everything they right, because if that was true I feel like the world would have to fear authors. I feel like some books are problematic if they are going about a situation wrong. Like I’ve read some crappy books about schizophrenia and anxiety. I deal more with anxiety and I guess a small bit of claustrophobia (my brother is the only one who likes to admit this to me, because I kind of have panic attacks every time I’m in a Target [or large unfamiliar places] for more than a half hour). I don’t usually finish books if I feel like they are expressing things wrongly. This is more on the contemporary side, when their are things like that in fantasy I think anything can happen so it doesn’t really matter in fantasy for me.,

We would be terrified of authors, right?!?😂 Especially all the very very stabbtastic ones. (OMG EVERYONE WOULD NEED TO BE SCARED OF ME.😂) And I do get that with teh fantasy vs contemporary! And I loooove Jennifer Niven and do agree that ATBP was more emotional than HUTU.

Marmalade jam is a lovely invention by the Scots (some of my ancestors were Scottish, so they obviously got something right eventually 😛 ) but then again, I may have a bit of an evil heart (you should read some of *my* stories) so there’s always that. (Of course, whisky is another lovely invention by the Scots, but not one I often have access to, whereas marmalade is a lot more readily available…)

I think a good example of your point is the Harry Potter books by JK Rowling (yes, I still read these books, I’ve read the entire series ten times and am in the process of writing at least four fanfiction stories of my own based on her world and planning another one… we won’t discuss how old I am). In her books, a lot of the Purebloods (see racist jackwagons) hate anyone who is not also Pureblood, whether they’re Muggleborn, Half-Blood, or even Squibs. They especially seem to hate Squibs, even though they generally come from Pureblood families (there goes their ordered little world) and will ostracize them and pretend they don’t exist and strike them off their huge wall-sized family tree because they don’t want to acknowledge that any Pureblood born child could *possibly* be born without a drop of magic in them. Now there are a lot of Pureblood families who *don’t* suffer from this delusional attitude, such as the Weasleys and the Potters (Harry’s dad’s family, obviously, since Harry was a Half-Blood), and even some individual members of said racist Pureblood families (for example, Sirius had a lot more sense than the rest of his family such as cousins Narcissa Black Malfoy and Bellatrix Black Lestrange; also his cousin Andromeda Black Tonks did as well—she did marry a Muggle, after all, and had a Half-Blood child, Nymphadora who by the way hated her first name and I can’t say as I blame her 😛 ). Dumbledore was from a Pureblood family and while he may have started out with some really idiotic ideas about Muggles, he eventually came to see the error of his ways and from that point on devoted his life to fair and equal treatment of Muggles, Muggleborns, and Half-Bloods, as well as all magical creatures and beings, humanoid or not.

Which brings me, of course, to Hermione Granger, Muggleborn champion of House Elves and all other magical beings, who raged endlessly about the deplorable treatment of House Elves by the majority of the Wizarding world, and once she was out of school went to work for the Ministry, immediately pushing for laws that allowed fair treatment and equal rights for House Elves and any other magical being who wasn’t already granted such rights, also pushing for Muggle and Muggleborn protection laws, making sure the outdated anti-Muggle and Muggleborn laws were abolished. She was a true champion of fairness for all beings, and if she hadn’t wound up in Gryffindor would have done equally well in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw (Ravenclaw for her cleverness, of course, and Hufflepuff for her loyalty and sense of fair play). It’s a safe bet Jo doesn’t really hold with all those “Purebloods are the only ones who matter” ideals, yet she does such a good job of conveying those ideals through her truly slimy characters such as Lucius Malfoy, Dolores Umbridge (aka Toadface), and Cornelius Fudge that sometimes you stop reading long enough to look at the book and go, “Really, Jo?!? Wow!” Then she introduces someone like Bill Weasley who, though he’s from a Pureblood family (blood traitors, as far as families like the Malfoys are concerned) is great friends with the Goblins he works with, and is able to give Harry great insight into the psychology of Goblins in the seventh book. Characters like Bill restore your faith in the Wizarding world and in humanity in general (okay, maybe mostly in the Wizarding world) because of their fair treatment of all beings, regardless of race or “purity of blood”, or any other such drivel that people like Fudge and Toadface love to spout off about every chance they get…and we won’t even get into Rita Skeeter, that vile, wretched excuse for a human being…

Anyway, point being, Jo is able to realistically portray the attitudes of all these people, and make you believe that *they* believe whatever they say on the subject with no trouble at all…the Malfoys are truly twisted individuals (okay, Narcissa’s redeeming quality is her love for her son, making her willing to even help the Chosen One if it means she can be close to Draco again…and even Draco didn’t give Harry up when he so easily could have, and no matter what he said about Muggleborns in general and Hermione in particular, he seemed genuinely bothered by what Bellatrix did to her in Malfoy Manor, he actually seemed like he would have tried to stop her if it had been anyone else holding the wand—I think he was truly terrified of his aunt and wasn’t stupid enough to cross her unless he knew he had lots of backup)…which just goes to show that even the most “evil” of her characters were simply flawed human beings who could be just as conflicted about their own actions and beliefs as anyone else…except Voldemort, of course. He was just evil from birth and his death couldn’t have come soon enough. The world is a much better place without him. But everyone else in her books had at least one redeeming quality, and when they didn’t it was clearly shown that they didn’t and why, so that the reader would have absolutely no sympathy for said character when they finally got what was coming to them. All writers should aspire to write their characters with such clarity…even when things are black and white in her books, they’re really not, because as you said, good people do unspeakably horrible things all the time, and evil people are capable of great acts of love and compassion, showing how truly grey a lot of the subjects she addressed truly are. Even “”crazy” people like Luna and her dad had a method to their madness and were capable of extremely lucid moments. Luna especially had moments of great clarity and insight into her classmates’ lives that they were never quite sure how to take. I believe this ability of hers stemmed from her having Seer abilities, whether she and/or her father ever realized it or not, and so whenever she seemed to be staring dreamily off into space, she was actually Seeing things that she would then comment on, however obscurely, and those around her would then marvel at how eerily accurate those statements were, if a bit blunt, even when those statements were about herself. It never seemed to bother her to make the most brutally honest statements about herself, probably because there was little she could do about it so why bother herself with things that were out of her control?

Jo never seemed shy about portraying her characters as realistically as possible (for the setting she chose). She had characters that were spacy but seemed to have a much clearer grasp of reality than those around them (Luna, Trelawney—yes, even Trelawney—re-read any scene where she and Harry were in the same place, even when she didn’t realize it, for instance when he was hiding behind the statue as she walked past, and you will realize just how often she was accurate, even if about the little things); characters that were gormless gits (Crabbe, Goyle, Ron on occasion—okay, Ron quite a lot but he had better reasons for being one than the other two); characters that were slimy jerks (Nott, Zabini, Draco a good lot of the time—he had his moments as well, Flint, Wormtail—he doesn’t deserve to be called by his other name, Borgin and Burke—anyone wonder who she modeled him after? Read up on your history); and then there were the just plain evil ones—Lucius Malfoy and his buddy Snakeface, I mean Voldemort, Delores Jane Umbridge—I mean, Toadface, Morfin and Marvolo Gaunt—although I suppose since they were both bat-crackers crazy some of that could be understandable; then there were those caught up by their circumstances but who basically had good hearts—Severus Snape (don’t give me that look, everything he did was because of his love for Lily, either good or bad), Merope Gaunt (with family like that, I wouldn’t have wanted to stick around either), Eileen Prince (Severus’ mum—she pretty much gave up on life after realizing what a jerk she’d married, with her only bright spot being her son), Regulus Black (who believed his parents’ rhetoric, along with Snakeface’s, until he realized just what following old Moldyshorts would entail), even poor Kreacher was a victim of circumstance—you see how he changed once he actually had someone care about his own well-being. Jo was able with just a few words here and there to give us great insight into the lives of all these characters, to see their true hearts, whether good or evil or somewhere in between, and to truly care about those characters, or at least to feel strongly towards the ones we didn’t care about. Heck, even Dudley turned out to have some redeeming qualities, once he stopped letting his parents’ attitudes towards Harry shape his own. All it would take would be for him to get away from their influence, and he and Harry might even eventually become friends (hey, I’ve read a few fanfics where it’s happened, and they’ve managed to make it believable). All things are possible in the world of fanfiction anyway, and if fans can turn even the most despicable characters into loveable ones, then we should all be able to do so in our totally original worlds we create as well.

This is a great post Cait, and it’s completely on point. One of the things our community is responsible for is to ensure authors don’t get attacked for this sort of thing. If something is problematic, it’s our job to call it out (preferably in a polite way) and help the author understand why that IS NOT OKAY. Thanks to social media, it’s so much easier for use to communicate and share our opinions. I don’t fault authors for writing problematic content accidentally– but we should educate those who do. And, we need to take a stand when authors write problematic content intentionally. We live in a society where we can affect change- and we should.

I totally agree!! And I think we need to acknowledge a lot of authors make mistakes!?? Like I feel the internet has zero tolerance right now, which I get because a lot of people have been hurt by misrepresentation…but when does ANYONE learn something constructive when hundreds of people are screaming at them? Like I’ve seen authors sent death threats and extreme hate mail for writing something others deemed problematic. Sure the book probably was if so many people had read it and agreed. But how is the screaming helping? It makes me really anxious to be a writer honestly. (Also it’s not fair how all the high-profile books get this treatment, but lower, smaller authors don’t get pulled up at all. It feels like partially the hate is also coming because the author is famous?)

But again: I totally agree that problematic elements need to be called out and talked about and underlined that they’re not okay! But it’d be good if bookworms realised that this doesn’t NECESSARILY mean the author is endorsing them to write about them.

I actually agree with you on this one, Cait! I feel like authors don’t necessarily have to agree with what they write, and in some way, I think some authors find it difficult to write the things they do end up writing.

I also agree with how to spot whether the author agrees with the problematic situation, and I find your advice on what to look for to be very wise, indeed! *gives cake in admiration*

My German teacher always talks about the general misconception of people who mess up the characters in a book with the author. An author can let characters do things they don’t agree with. An author can especially make them say things they don’t agree with. Simple as pie.
On the other hand, this actually means, that those people who write about the nicest things and best characters aren’t necessarily nice, it’s actually quite certain that they are humans just like we all are and don’t lead the perfect life their characters do.

Absolutely! You totally see where I’m coming from and I’m so relieved! And so true about it going the other way…writing nice things doesn’t make us nice either. Writing is art, and I think we all need to remember artists are still just people exploring topics through their art. Not BEING their art.

I don’t know if I’ve said this before, but it deserves to be said often: I just love love love the way you take on these issues. You talk about it in a humorous, non-threatening way, but aren’t afraid to tell it like it is and speak on highly contended topics in a very rational way. AND! You are careful to hold space for different opinions and welcome discussion. I never feel attacked or judged (which can be the case with other articles whose sentiment I agree with too), and you make me laugh and think at the same time. I wish more people trying to write about hot debated topics took lessons from you… 😉😂
I agree with everything you said in this post!!! Something I’ve been screaming at judgy bigoted pineapple fronds for a long time. I’m glad someone is finally speaking to this. Just because I write a character in my main cast that is openly irreligious doesn’t mean I’m walking away from my Christianity (heck, I’ve written stories with a polytheistic culture!). Just because I write a protagonist who literally MURDERS THE KING AND STEALS HIS MAGICAL SWORD does not mean I condone such behavior. (<- highly do not reccomend doing this; you'll most likely end up with a curse or worse) I feel like we as humans tend to be all to quick to point fingers and judge others, but not ourselves. MAYBE we should all just assume the best for three seconds, have some cake and tea, and worry about stabbing people online later.
I can say for myself, I've been really nervous to share work where I write about things vastly different from my personal beliefs/morals because I'm scared of the backlash. I don't want people to freak out over HOW COULD YOU and WHO ARE YOU and @$#%. So I haven't and tend to stick to my comfort zone. It takes conscious effort and willpower to make myself do something that might make some explosions (thankfully I have a small enough audience that no one cares enough and there aren't 10,000 people losing their heads).
THANK YOU for this post!! ❤

N’awww, KAT. You make me flail with happiness (because you have no idea how freaked I was to post this😜) I’m so glad you understood where I was coming from and I managed to make it fun and not an angry rant or anything. I’M SO RELIEVED HONESTLY. And like my #1 goal for my blog is to make sure people feel welcome to comment/flail/disagree…whatever! Just so long as we can all do it sensibly. :’)

And I think a lot of non-readers and bookworms just don’t really stop to think about how we are NOT our books??? Like for goodness sakes I wrote a book from a BOY’S PERSPECTIVE. I don’t wish I was a boy! I’ve written about murderers and psychos and everything. That’s not me??? Just what I’m exploring through literature.

(There is a lot of relief in only having a small audience haha. I agree.😜)

IMPORTANT POST™! HEAR US ONE AND ALL, FOR WE SPEAK THE TRUTH! (Or, well, YOU speak the truth.) Like, I looooove your every post, Cait, I looooove this caketacious blog and all the munchies it provides, but THIS IS THE ACTUAL BEST OF EVER. Because I cringed when I realized what it would address, and then went on to RELAX COMPLETELY, LIKE, BEACH-TOWEL-SUNSHINE-JOY LEVEL RELAX, BECAUSE YOU COVERED IT ALL.

When we first joined the bookish community (not even in blogging capacity, just in the Goodreads reviewer format, it was sort of AN UNSPOKEN RULE never to go after an AUTHOR – rather, their work. And it was unspoken because… it… made sense? THE SUN SHINES. IT’S JUST HOW IT IS. MOVING ON. The only times I’ve ever seen people step outside those boundaries is to occasionally accuse someone of “milking the cash cow”. But now it’s gotten quiiiiiiiiiite divisive (as, apparently, has the world?) and so here we are. That’s what happens when you have no Harry Potter to rally behind. Rudeness is rude. That just leaves us with a giant Hungarian Horntail to BURN IT ALL DOOOOOOWN.

But having said that – yes – an author who purposely (or continuously) perpetuates a harmful or problematic stereotype SHOULD absolutely be called out. I think it’s BONKERS when authors say that it doesn’t matter to them what their readers say, and they don’t care about their reviews. WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM, AND CAN YOU TAKE ME TO YOUR OVERLORD, I’VE KIND OF ALWAYS WANTED TO HANG WITH THE ALIENS. To break their viewpoint down to their structural components and explain why they are harmful is the BEST way to get a clear message across, espeeeeecially if it comes from someone harmed by it.

But should we assume that authors condone and agree with everything that comes out of their characters’ mouths? AHAHAHA, MAGGIE WOULD BE IN JAIL, just based on Kavinsky and Ronan alone. And the Grey Man. And Piper. And Greenmantle. (Wow, I’m just realizing how many awesomely stabby characters TRC contains, even with its overall low stab rate.) AND MOST OF THEM END UP JUST FINE. But clearly she does not actually send a message of “Do drugs, blow Mitzubishis up, dream monsters into reality and sic them on your fantasy homosexual lovers, then self-destruct, drop out of school, become a contract killer, fall in love with a psychic, learn Latin, and then murder the students you teach it to”. I’d only recommend, like, half of those things. #legit

Imagine the HORROR that books would be if all characters reflected the author’s ideals. SNOOZEFEST, PARTY OF (EVERY)ONE. Also, this is a personal thing, but whenever a character DOES reflect an author’s preference (like, when they make a weirdly specific reference to something and say that THIS IS COOL and ALL WHO DISAGREE SUCK), I tend to mind that more than the alternative. ALRIGHT, PREACHY, GO TO YOUR ROOM. YOU’RE GROUNDED FOR BEING A SHAMELESS SELF-INSERT. YOU MAY COME OUT NEVER. The bottom line being: authors are fallible. Authors make mistakes. Authors learn. Sometimes, authors offend,.(This is where call-outs and bookish structural breakdowns are okay.) But authors are also in the business of telling lies and writing evil (or are those just MY preferences?) and we should never presume that they = their characters, or even their themes.

We seem to put so much emphasis on diversity in every way, shape or form – as long as it isn’t opinion diversity. Freedom of everything-but-speech. And this approach really needs a dramatic makeover.

THIS COMMENT GIVES ME LIFE, LEXIE. THANK YOU SO MUCH. Did I ever mention how you’re like the most encouraging bean ever?!?! *tackle hugs you* (Also I’m taking the word caketacious now and putting it on my business card that I do not have but will get just so I can use that descriptor. #priorities)

But agh, yes I agree that life used to be more like “critique the book, not the author”. Part of me is like “well it’s good authors are learning and being corrected, especially if they’re misrepresenting minorities” and part of me is like ” I NEVER WANT TO WRITE AGAIN BECAUSE NO DOUBT I’LL MAKE A MISTAKE AND BE PUBLICALLY MURDERED AND SHAMED”. It’s terrifying. I think readers are giving authors 0% to have made accidental mistakes too. And also giving them zero room to not be endorsing what they’re writing about. Plus it’s a horrible double standard to be totally okay with a book about murderers, but than to burn and rage and spread hate messages about the book if a character says something problematic. Both are bad?? How can we rage over one and not the other???

And authors are totally in the business of telling lies. We gotta remember this. And we also have to discuss and think about what they write?!? Like we discuss classic books in SCHOOLS and things and they’re racist pieces of horror.😳

(But again, I definitely underline that I don’t condone problematic authors who DO agree if they write racist/homophobic/anti-feminist/etc things in their books.) (But I also truly believe a lot of authors under fire right now may be making mistakes on accident?? And what happened about talking about things before we go to angry rioting?)

I agree that authors don’t agree with everything they write. Good books have complex characters, and we wouldn’t NEED complex characters in a perfectly good and righteous world. Complex characters exist because their world is broken and they’ve been hurt somehow. I believe fiction is a safe place for us to explore difficult topics, and authors make it possible by introducing topics and characters they may not agree with.

Cait, while I agree with much being said, repeatedly referring to a book being “problematic,” sort of bothers me. For example, truth is stranger than fiction. Many of the true crime stories leave you aghast at what the characters do. And, most of the time, their actions are not PC and quite “problematic” to the normal person. Authors who pull on these truths of the dark dwelling within we fallible humans are sometimes viewed in a skewed and critical light. I think one has to be careful not to let the rumblings of social media dictate how we view a book/story (esp. now). To me is more fun to ruminate on the story and try to view it from another angle. Just my 2 cents.

I can’t think of a better word to use than “problematic” honestly! I mean, a book with problems = problematic, in my opinion.😜 And of course if someone is not politically correct than I think that is problematic. And I don’t think a person as a whole is problematic if some of their actions are. They can change. 🙂

Anyway the point of this post was to SAY that you can write problematic characters and not be problematic yourself, after all. So you’re actually arguing the same point I am.

Omgoodness, Cait, I’ve read so many good articles on this lately. It’s something that I, as a Christian, have been seriously thinking on. For a while I struggled with whether or not to write Christian fiction. One thing I don’t like about Christian fiction is that authors don’t (usually) write characters who do things they don’t approve of. But that isn’t how the world works. Our world is chalked full of sin and darkness. The conclusion that I have come to is that authors can show they don’t approve of it by doing exactly what you said: not glorifying it and using character development. I think that by the end of a book or series, a reader should pretty much know what the author thinks is right and wrong. The key is not to glorify darkness.

I completely agree, Alea! It’s like automatically a fantasy world if an author is trying to create a perfect cast of characters. And what reader can even relate to that?!? And I also think that while character development is SO CRUCIAL, often times a lot of people don’t even learn from their mistakes? It’s sad but it’s realistic. There are always going to be people in the world where we wish they changed.

THIS POST. THIS. It’s all so true, honestly, my characters believe in things I don’t and act different than I do and sometimes they’re snobby and rude and liars but sometimes they’re kind and honest and role models. (Their good qualities win over. However, I really do need to teach a certain character of mine that creating a fake life for herself leads to problems.)

I think this post is a great way to generate dialogue about a lot of the drama going on in the book community right now. Problematic themes/stereotypes/etc. in books aren’t a complete waste if they’re serving the purpose to educate and shed light on an issue. And like you said, the truth of the matter is that in real life, sadly, there are sexist/racist/etc. people. However I do think that while we need to have a dialogue around these issues that we shouldn’t be actively trying to censor books, even if highly problematic, because censorship just leads to all kinds of horrendous things (such as book banning which I am really against). I was an English major in college and there were several classes students could take focusing solely on banned books or controversial books or books with problematic elements for the sake of discussing them and learning from them and addressing them. I think as much as we should try to learn and grow and educate and be sensitive, we should try to address these problematic texts without censoring/banning them or downright lashing out/blacklisting those who choose to read them (especially as they could be reading them for a number of reasons).

oh I totally agree with your comment *hi fives* It actually scares me a bit how actively twitter seems to be arguing for censorship and actually physically TELLING people what they can/cannot read?? It surprises me so bad. Omg sure there are very damaging problematic books out there, but it’s still censorship if you tell people what to read. 😳 And like YES! The discussion is important. And it educates?? Instead of just telling people “Don’t read that book” we should read them and then come and have calm and intelligent discussions and learn/grow from it. That’d be the ideal universe anyway.😜

Cait, I love you and thank you for writing this post. I’ve been so terrified to post anything on Twitter for the last couple of months in fear of being accused as a racist/whatever when I’m not. It’s been disheartening and scary in the YA Twitter-verse, for sure, and I think you hit the nail on the head with your points. Authors are NOT their characters. Yes, certain traits are given to them, but when I read about a character that enjoys the feel of someone’s life slipping out of them between their hands, I don’t automatically assume, “OMG THE AUTHOR’S A LUNATIC.” Or when I read about sexism, I don’t automatically assume that the author is also a jerk. No, I just know that it’s that character.

Of course, I know some authors actually are jerks, but that’s not the big point here.

And I agree with a lot of comments said: I’d rather read a book for myself and decide if it’s problematic. I mean, I’ll listen to those that say it is, but I need to make my own decisions about said book. I honestly don’t know when a book is being problematic? Or maybe I’m just not picking them up? Okay, that’s a lie, I know some books (like SJM books, whom I love, are very lacking in the diversity department and also why is everyone being paired up?) do have problematic LACK of representation. Also, when it comes to mental illnesses: that’s a very thin line to walk across. Not everyone experiences mental illness in the same ways, and I don’t know if people forget that. I mean, yes, there is definitely a harmful and wrong way to show those illnesses, but they’re also very diverse in their own ways, too.

One of my stories I’m currently writing includes a group of people who are primarily people of color (dark skinned, mostly) who are warriors (some are caregivers, harvesters, etc, but a lot are warriors, especially the females). After the whole ordeal with Carve the Mark, now I’m afraid that that group of people will be read wrong. Because they’re not “evil;” they actually help the main characters and there’s also a deeper history there with one of them. Like.. yeah. I don’t know how else to explain it.

As a writer and a reader, this has been a very stressful time, but thank you for doing a good job explaining a lot of our thoughts!

I completely agree! And it can be really hard to tell authors vs character being problematic sometimes, but I think readers are very quick to judge without finishing a book or thinking it through? And omg don’t get me started on how poisonous twitter is these days. it breaks my heart. I sometimes dread going on there when it used to be my favourite social media site! *sighs*

And I definitely agree with what you said about experiences! That’s SO important to remember. Not everyone’s experiences are the same. Not even everyone in the same minority!

And I also understand how you feel. After everything with The Continent and Carve the Mark, I saw MANY people saying white people should not be writing POC characters. This really shocked me and I started thinking I’d need to rewrite a lot of my books. But then wouldn’t I be white-washing??? Twitter makes zero sense honestly. *sigh* And it’s really rattling to be on there and trying to write your own novels and being a baby writer (I still feel like a baby writer😂) I think it’s important that we get sensitivity readers of the minority we’re representing and not listen to everyone on the internet who’s in a rage though.

I loved this post Cait! I think what you’ve said is so true and there is a huge difference in an author writing something problematic for the sake of making their character learn and an author writing something problematic without any thought for other people and their feelings because that is their opinion and I feel a lot of people can often become confused with that!

I agree! It’s easy to get them confused. And I also totally admit that authors DO write problematic things badly, or even unintentionally and create huge problems. But I think for those just wanting to discuss topics and are shut down….it’s all very sad. And nearly censorship? We bookworms have to remember to think/discuss what we read, nearly, right?!

Well first of all I am VERY impressed at all the wonderful essays people are writing in comments O_O Pretty sure some are longer than your whole post.

But I definitely think that sometimes the line between author’s thoughts/character’s thoughts can be blurred. And idk, a lot of people are saying that the problematic remarks have to be called out during the book, but I feel like some things should be ASSUMED as wrong??

Anyway that’s not what we’re talking about. I am totally a big fan of moral grey areas and dark things so yesss 100% to this.

OMG I KNOW. People are being lovely! And I think there’s only 2 or so people who didn’t understand what I meant, so that’s pretty good. My nerves can calm down. 😂 (I may or may not have been super nervous to post this haha.)

And I also agree with the assumed thing…I should’ve mentioned that in the post. Like we assume murder is wrong so we’re cool with reading about assassins…but for other things it seems the second an author writes about it, they’re seen as being the evil ones?

I love this post, Cait! I was actually thinking something similar with the last book I read. I was reading A Step Towards Falling by Cammie McGovern, and one of the narrators, Emily has to do community service at a programme for people with developmental disabilities. And while she wasn’t being nasty as she was describing them, it was just really uncomfortable to read – she would point out the things she thought were weird; their speech, the clothes they wore, and so on. And I was just wincing as I was reading it, because it was so rude, but it was unintentionally rude, in that she hadn’t yet been educated – she didn’t realise it was rude. And, you know, people do think these things. But I know the author has a son with Autism, and that she helped set up a centre for people with disabilities, so obviously these weren’t her opinions, and that the book would show growth. Then we meet Belinda, the other narrator, who has developmental disabilities, so we get her side of things, too – the reader gets to know Belinda as Emily gets to know the people she works with. It was a great way to show someone growing, but also to potentially challenge the reader’s own thoughts.

That was just an example as I was thinking this recently. But I completely agree that authors don’t (necessarily) agree with the actions or opinions of their characters. There’s no story without some kind of conflict, and characters should be realistic. But I do agree there are problematic books out there, intentional or otherwise… and I’ve recently been thinking about them, too, as a privileged reader who may not always notice the problems, and what to do there. I actually wrote a discussion about it earlier today 🙂

I totally get that! And that’s a really good example! Like my example with Adam Silvera…I’m like 99% sure he also has OCD, so I was surprised he’d have a character so dismissive of it and never actually called out…but then isn’t that real life? Isn’t it erasure to ignore that’s how most people react? It’s sad, but we can’t write fairy lands all the time because that’s frustrating and unrealistic.

Thanks for posting this! It’s an important reminder. I wanted to read through all the comments, but there are way too many. You should summarize them for me. xD

I do think there’s a fine line between an author writing a problematic book and an author writing about a problematic subject. But there definitely IS a line. If everyone is too afraid to talk about sensitive subjects, no one will ever learn anything new and we’ll all grow tired of reading and stick to our old favorites. I don’t think there’s one fail-safe way to tell if an author is problematic or not, since everyone has a different opinion on what’s acceptable and/or offensive. It’s very subjective, and I think people generally go with their gut feeling while reading a book. Usually the author can make it clear that he or she doesn’t agree with what a character says or believes, and if not, well, that’s what makes it a problem.

I can’t believe I forgot to talk about how subjective these things can still be. *facepalm* And like a book can still NOT be problematic and evil can still win, because that’s also a reflection of the real world. (Unfortunately.)

I do think it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference between problematic because world is not perfect, and problematic because the author has problematic opinions/views. But I do agree with your point that if the book does say, “hey, this character has not-okay opinions or does not-okay things” either by another character pointing it out or by the character growing and changing past those opinions or choices.

I think that the book blogger community, and those on Twitter especially, are quick to jump on what they believe are problematic. But, at times, people are so up in arms over a small thing (A character making a racist comment, for example), that they tend to ignore big things. There’s a book that I read the other week that came out a while that romanticized and glorified an abuse relationship and a whole bunch of other toxic, non-romantic relationships and I’ve heard nothing about it. Nothing. And I know why: it’s because it came out around the time that everyone was up in arms over The Raven King, WHICH NO ONE HAD EVEN READ YET.

I totally agree. It IS hard to tell the difference….and I think a lot of people feel so attacked and misrepresented these days that they’re just ready to jump down and cut things before they even finish trying to understand what the author is saying??

And something that disappoints me, is when a book/author is labelled racist as a WHOLE…when only one character made a racist comment and perhaps they were even the villain. (I have legit seen people hate and boycott a book because the villain was bad. Like duh???? It’s the VILLAIN.) And omg the unfairness of what people pick on is the worst too. I actually read a book with a VERY problematic disability rep…it was so ableist. Yet the book got no repercussions because it was #ownvoices for the narrator being a POC. It’s all very unbalanced and I think the book community is a bit too quick to get angry these days. 😭 Plus if something is famous, it’s 100% likely to get hated on just for anything really.

we dont have to agree with everything we write! my book is about middle schoolers acting TOO grown up and yada yada yada. i’d be a HORRIBLE person if I agreed with everything they did! even though my charries are good people. mostly. *hugs charries protectively* well, they do grow up a little by the end of the book. a little. but im besides the point- we dont have to agree! if every chracter was just like us, how boring would that be?

SAME. I would be terrified if people judged me off what I wrote about.😜 Books are about change and messages and development. And sure, sometimes the bad stuff DOESN’T get bashed by the good stuff. But that’s real life too, right??!

Yes! A lot of people on ze interwebs dont seem to be able to deal with flawed characters. As you say, people in real life do bad things when they are good people and bad people sometimes do good things. If I have to read another Goodreads rating bashing an author because a character had an affair, or whatever, so they must be endorsing infidelity, honestly! There’s a secondary side to this as well which really bothers me and that is people wanting to shut down opinions they dont agree with. Nobody likes people having affairs or being racist (and we’re not agreeing these things are okay because they are not) but there is a place for exploring these topics in literature and it’s important that we do. Tis a slippery slope to censorship.

It’s just gotten a bit bizarre on the internet lately, hasn’t it?? And I’m so confused how people assume authors are advocating things like bad unhealthy relationships…like no! But they DO happen. So I guess it’s fair to write about them?! And omg the “shutting down of opinions” is terrifying and it’s really strong at the moment. It’s like people want everyone to have a hive mind. We can’t. We won’t. Censorship is never okay.

A funny and charming as ever, Cait 😀
Great discussion topic! It’s actually something I’ve been thinking about lately. Personally, I think as you think. I don’t believe authors should agree with everything they write.
It’s too early in the morning for me to think clearly which is why I’m going to leave my commet like this 🙂
Fantastic discussion post!

I don’t think it’s surprising that authors – like anyone – should be expected to be honest and authentic 100% of the time.

I write reviews of books I don’t LOVE… I don’t say I love them but I’ll say what elements I enjoyed. Maybe I disliked the book, but I feel like I need to be fair. If I really hate something I won’t finish it and will mark it as a DNF. Tastes and opinions are so subjective it’s impossible to say if something’s not good or all good / all bad.

Plus… authors (like other professionals) need to earn a living and when I did some freelance blogging I’d have to write stuff for others that my heart may have not been in. But it was my job. Now I work for government and our values are always / often aligned but I have bills and a mortgage to pay so I toe the company line.

I’d feel conflicted if I worked for anyone particularly evil or was required to do something I felt was wrong. Indeed… I think I’d refuse, but can’t imagine a situation that would be THAT bad.

Ah. Well I think I understand where you’re coming from, Deborah, but honestly that’s not the point of my post at all. 🙂 I’m here talking about things like “writing about murder but that doesn’t mean the author would go out and murder someone”. I’m not talking about being invested in what you’re writing or not. Or working for an evil boss.

And we’ll have to agree to disagree about some things being subjective. I mean, there are a LOT of things that are subjective in books, writing, and reviewing! Like writing style, characters’ personalities, storyline, humour, etc. But problematic things like an author being racist and writing a racist book — I don’t believe that’s subjective. I think that’s just wrong. Hope that clears things up about what my post was saying!

I love how you wrote a post on this Cait! It’s ao incredibly polarising to say author writes about a topic = endorses this. Wtf? Does that mean we can only write about “safe” topics now? How is anyone supposed to learn about things that matter? Lovely post!

Ohhh THANK YOU JEANN. <3 THIS COMMENT IS EVERYTHING. I was super nervous about this post and just really hoped no one would take it the wrong way. So far it seems to be going over well. 😊 And yes. omg. I seems like a lot of the internet IS screaming for books to be only about safe things, and it's absurd and I don't think anyone truly wants that anyway.😳

What a great discussion! Loved your thoughts on this, after reading the title I thought to myself “of course they have to believe in what they’re writing” but after reading your thoughts and all of your examples I really changed my mind. Great discussion Cait!

I’m really glad that you understood where I’m coming from and you agree! THANK YOU THIS IS SO ENCOURAGING. <3 I think the book community could do with a bit of chilling and thinking before jumping to slamming everyone.

I think this post could have a follow-up that asks “Can authors write about things they have an opinion on without telling you what their opinion is? And if they tell you that opinion, can they do it in a way that makes you ponder the issue without judging you?” J.K. Rowling is a beautiful example of an author who writes things she doesn’t agree with but doesn’t always tell you what you should believe. Take the issue of house elves. Hermione creates S.P.E.W. to see them liberated. Ron immediately disagrees with her. Harry is on the fence about the issue. The issue is complex and develops over four books. We understand why each in the trio have the opinion they have, and there is room to grow for all of them. It doesn’t excuse it, but you can understand. Based on what Rowling has written in the HP books, can we tell if she thinks house elves should be liberated? Probably, but not definitively. But I don’t want her to be definitive. I want us as readers to say “What in our world resembles this issue? How do I react to this issue? What does that say about me? What should I believe? What should I do about it?” What’s the number one rule for writing? Show, don’t tell. Authors can be too invasive on controversial issues. Authors can be too idealistic on controversial issues. Make it complex; make it messy. Let me decide. All the good books do this.
People are imperfect. We are all works in progress. I have never known someone to change because people have sat there and called them racist, ignorant, or sexist. I have known people to change their opinions by hearing the stories and experiences of others. That is what makes books so powerful. If discussions are happening, that’s a good thing. Talk about the issues rather than personally attack the author. If you don’t like something, don’t read it. Feel free to say why you’re not reading it, but don’t personally attack the author and assume you know their stance on the issue.

I always felt JK Rowling was actually pretty black and white about her right-and-wrong things! Like to me I always thought it was obvious that Harry/Ron where being the problematic people with their dismissiveness of slavery and how they changed was an underline of the right vs wrong.

But yes! We are all imperfect and works of progress and we will all change too….hopefully to become better people the more we learn and know. And discussion about books ARE so powerful! Like we know so many classics that are seriously harmful, but we still read them to talk about them, and I think that’s important too.

And absolutely agreed: personal attacks are scary and often full of misunderstandings. I’ve seen authors on twitter getting death threats and that makes me feel so sick. Calling out and instructing and teaching is one thing, wishing someone was dead because they made a mistake is another.

So I wholeheartedly agree with your thoughts via authors not being their characters or necessarily holding the same views. And I’m really glad you mentioned the fact that this idea doesn’t excuse a problematic book because I think this is where a lot of people mess up. The issue I find specifically with the book community on twitter is that people have a difficult time identifying when something is problematic, and then when it’s pointed out to them, they have a problem with it being called problematic because they are nervous about what it says about them. So they fight about how something is not problematic or how an author is not some amalgam of their characters. Like they think that liking something problematic makes them problematic, which I mean, I don’t know that depends on a lot. Or perhaps they think that not seeing said problematic thing makes them part of the problem, which yes, in fact that is true.

The frustrating part is the idea that people think they are the “end-all-be-all” or what constitutes an issue simply because they didn’t see it as one. And even more frustrating, they act as if they’ve been wounded by one of their favorite books being called out for its problematic points and it’s like “no, you are not the victim here. there are those that have been hurt by your favorite book. they are the victim.”

That was definitely a tangent but also kind of relevant because it ties back to an author writing about “bad qualities/things” that they don’t necessarily agree with. Because if it’s not done properly, it can be easy for readers to not even see the issue and that is the most problematic part of all, to not recognize the problem makes you part of the problem. For instance, I have heard from many people that in Empire of Storms, SJM has a character essentially come out as bisexual to another character in a way that cheapens their sexuality. It is talked about in comparison to being a sex worker and draws a connection the two as if to liken bisexuality to selling sex. THIS IS SO HARMFUL AND TAPS INTO/STRENGTHENS HURTFUL STEREOTYPES OF BISEXUAL PEOPLE BEING PROMISCUOUS AND UNFAITHFUL. And from my knowledge, SJM does nothing on the page to say “this comparison is wrong.” And it seems as though because she skimmed over this problematic comparison so did many of her devoted readers and therefore we have something hurtful being perpetuated without regard for what that means for those harmed by it. …. My point being that yes, although author’s not being/believing in everything they write is a true statement, we cannot consider it the default because it is not in fact the default. If it were, these problematic things would not get overlooked. Does that make sense? At this point, I think it’s more important that author’s directly refute the problematic things/characters in their books, not us assume that these things don’t reflect the author’s ideals.

I do think I understand what you mean for this! Especially for the SJM example. I do think it’s sad when things like that happen…although honsetly I don’t like a lot of things SJM has done and I quit on the series so I guess I’m not surprised. I do also think there can be a problem though, like when the book IS published…like what can she do?? Maybe she made a mistake or did it on accident, but she can’t change it. And I know there’s the “make an apology” but I have seen authors do that and not be forgiven so yeah. It’s hard. (I’m not trying to excuse her or anything! I’m really saddened by that news too.) And I know authors make mistakes a LOT or don’t get betas or sensitivity readers and it’s just disappointing and absolutely hurtful.

Although I also do think an author can do a problematic thing but that doesn’t mean they’re not sorry, you know? It’s always hard to know though. AH. SIGH. So many grey lines and so much subjectivity. It’s so hard to tell at times.

I think the problem is some readers not being able to tell the difference between an author writing about something to show that it is wrong, and agreeing with it. So many bad reviews of Summer On the Short Bus were because they thought it was promoting bullying of the disabled. I had a conversation with the author, and we came to the conclusion that it was because the character was written in first person. This is why I cringe when teens and young adults suggest that there be no assigned reading in high school because reading and analyzing stories together teaches readers things like what growth and change arcs are. I think these readers don’t know about that; that the MC has to start out low to have room to grow and change, especially in coming of age YA books. It always angers me when a book gets bad reviews because the reader misunderstood the premise.

As JKR said, when someone asked how Harry Potter fans could be Tr*ump supporters, “Some people are not good readers.”

FINALLY. FINALLY. I’ve been waiting for someone to say all the things you just said for ages! I totally agree with everything you said. I can’t really add anything, because you kinda just said everything that needed to be said 😀

I absolutely think that it is okay–and maybe even good sometimes–for authors to write things they disagree with. You had some pretty great examples. The only example I can think of is 1984. George Orwell is very much against totalitarian governments, yet his whole book is about one of the most oppressive and dangerous governments ever. But his whole point in writing the novel is to serve as a warning against these controlling governments.

Another example that I can think of is With Malice by Eileen Cook. The main character is extremely unreliable and has done some questionable things in the past, but that doesn’t mean that the author endorses murder, lying, and abandoning your best friend. Morally questionable characters are not necessarily written by morally terrible authors. I think that Cook was trying to use her characters to show the danger of jealousy and how innocence can easily be faked, both of which are actually good lessons to learn.

PS- It’s good to see you back at writing discussions! I love how they always manage to make me think.

There are plenty of things in my recently completed novel that i disagree with. Of course I disagree with the way my antagonists have chosen to live and disagree with many of their core values–they are, after all, the bad guys. But, my good guys don’t always do the right things either. They have flaws and need to grow and mature throughout the story. If they were perfect, there’d be no story.

To me, it’s not important whether my characters perfectly reflect my personal beliefs/preferred actions in my story, but the things which I present as values in my story should reflect what I support/value.

I think it’s important as authors to represent our values in our writing because readers WILL judge us based on the VALUES we present (not necessarily the actions or situations). If an author glorifies drugs by having the MC use and get away with it, or worse yet, having the MC prevail BECAUSE of the drug use, I’d assume that author didn’t have a problem with drug use and I’d not read anything else he/she wrote.

When I read a book, I like to take away some nugget of truth, some value that was discovered or enhanced by reading the novel, so when a novel PROMOTES values I can’t agree with (not simply mentions/displays them), I’m going to assume they are values the author agrees with (or else why promote them?) and I will choose to avoid that author’s work from then on.